Inside Digital & eCommerce 2026 Survey | Retail
An Australian Study | Arktic Fox & Six Degrees Executive
What is your job title?
*
CEO / Managing Director
CMO / Marketing Director
Head / Divisional Marketing Leader (eg head of a brand or CRM, etc)
eComm Director / Head of eComm / eComm Manager / Head of Digi Product
Marketing / Digital Manager
Retail Media Leader
Individual Contributor - Marketing / Digital or eCommerce
Consultant or Agency Professional
About Your Organisation
What industry do you work in?
*
Please Select
Grocery
Fashion & Apparel
Electronics
Home & Hardware
Pharmacy & Health
Beauty
Department Stores
Speciality Retail
Other
What is the size of your organisation (in Australia)?
*
0 – 10 employees
11- 50 employees
51 – 200 employees
201 – 500 employees
501 – 1000 employees
1001 – 5000 employees
5000+ employees
What is the revenue of the organisation (Australian operations)?
*
$0 - $1m
$1,000,001 - $10m
$10,000,001 - $50m
$50,000,001 - $100m
$100,000,001 - $1bn
>$1b
What customer base is your organisation serving?
*
B2B
B2C
Both B2B & B2C
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Omnichannel experience, data, and personalisation
How strategically important are the following initiatives to your organisation's strategy over the next 12 - 18 months?
*
Rows
Not important
Somewhat important
Important
Very important
N/A
Personalisation across channels and journeys
Delivering seamless omnichannel experience
Driving eCommerce sales growth
MarTech utilisation
Customer and 1st party data strategy
Loyalty strategies & initiatives
How mature is your organisation's capability in these areas?
*
Rows
Nascent
Emerging
Developing
Advanced
Leading
N/A
Personalisation across channels and journeys
Omnichannel experience delivery
eCommerce
MarTech adoption
Customer and 1st party data strategy & activation
Loyalty strategies & initiatives
Which statement best describes your organisation’s omnichannel strategy today? (Select one)
*
We do not have a clear omnichannel strategy; channels are planned and operated independently
We have articulated an omnichannel ambition, but execution varies by team or channel
We have a shared omnichannel strategy that actively informs cross-channel planning and decision-making
Omnichannel experience is a core commercial and shopper growth priority, supported by leadership and investment
Omnichannel is embedded across the organisation and measured at a customer and journey level
When it comes to omnichannel experience delivery, how would you rate your organisation across the following dimensions?
*
Rows
Nascent
Emerging
Developing
Advanced
Leading
Unsure
A clearly defined omnichannel experience vision that informs roadmaps, prioritisation and investment decisions across the organisation
Leveraging customer data across channels to support a consistent and seamless experience throughout the customer journey
Customers can move seamlessly between channels (e.g. digital, store, service) without friction or repetition
Fulfilment, returns and customer service experiences are integrated and consistent across channels
Technology platforms are well integrated and support consistent experience delivery across channels
Teams, ways of working and incentives support effective omnichannel experience delivery
AI is increasingly changing how customers engage with brands. To what extent is your organisation investing | focussing on the following areas to enhance the customer experience?
*
Rows
No investment
Limited exploration
Moderate investment
Significant investment
N/A
Improving onsite search & discoverability
Powering personalisation
Product content creation & optimisation
Customer service & support (e.g. chatbots | virtual assistants etc)
Use of AI to enable teams to self-serve insights and explore data independently
Where do you see the biggest opportunities to improve or enhance personalisation over the next 12 - 18 months? (select up to 3)
*
Clearer personalisation strategy and objectives
Improved customer and product data to power personalised experiences
Reducing siloed personalisation activities across channels and teams
Delivering more 1:1 personalisation at scale
Improving team capability to deliver personalisation
Strengthening foundational technology to better support personalisation
Leveraging AI to scale and enhance 1:1 personalisation
Providing customers with greater control over how and when their experience is personalised
Expanding personalisation activities across more channels
We are not focussed on personalisation
Unsure
none of the above
When it comes to loyalty programs and management for your organisation, how much would you agree with the following?
*
Rows
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
N/A / Unsure
Our loyalty program has a clear and compelling value proposition for customers
Our loyalty program needs to evolve to meet the changing needs of our customers
Our loyalty program is easy to engage with across all channels
Our loyalty program is a core driver of incremental sales for our business
What impact has the shift to AI agents (e.g. ChatGPT, Perplexity) had on your audience / traffic to date?
*
No impact observed to date
Very low impact (less than 1% decline in traffic)
Low impact (2–3% decline in traffic)
Moderate impact (4–6% decline in traffic)
Significant impact (7%+ decline in traffic)
Unsure / too early to tell
How significant do you / your organisation believe AI will impact how shoppers buy?
*
I / we believe it will have a significant impact
I / we believe it will have a moderate impact
I / we believe it will have minimal impact
Unsure
How is your organisation adapting to that change? (select all that apply)
*
We are not currently adapting to this change
We are monitoring developments but have not yet taken action
We are adapting our search and discoverability strategy for AI (e.g. GEO, AI-driven search and discovery)
We are building or testing new AI-driven features and experiences (e.g. shopping agents, conversational commerce)
We are investing in product and customer data as foundational enablers for AI
We are exploring partnerships with AI platforms and technology providers to integrate with AI engines and prepare for agentic commerce
We are upskilling teams and building internal AI capability
Unsure
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MarTech & Data
What best describes your approach to marTech over the next 12 - 18 months as an organisation?
*
We are looking to consolidate our marTech stack
We are looking to sweat the MarTech we have, to ensure we are getting value from the investment
We are looking to procure more / additional marTech to support our strategy and needs
We are focussed on implementing the marTech we have just procured
Other
Unsure
When it comes to MarTech, which platforms are your priorities for investment in the next 12–18 months? (Select up to 5)
*
Customer data platform (CDP)
Loyalty platform
Marketing automation
Data warehouse
CRM
Digital asset management (DAM)
Content management system (CMS)
Digital analytics
Digital commerce
Customer identity management &resolution
Workflow and resource management
AI tools
Product Information Management (PIM)
None of the above
Unsure
Other (please specify)
How well do you believe your organisation leverages its marTech - on a scale of 1 to 5?
*
1 = very low utilisation of the tech and the core features & functionality it provides.
1
2
3
4
5 = strong utilisation of the tech and the core features & functionality it provides.
5
1 is 1 = very low utilisation of the tech and the core features & functionality it provides., 5 is 5 = strong utilisation of the tech and the core features & functionality it provides.
To what extent is your marTech and data ecosystem integrated today?
*
Highly integrated - data and platforms are well connected and interoperable
Partially integrated - some key systems are connected, but gaps remain
Largely fragmented - limited integration, manual workarounds are common
Highly fragmented - siloed systems with minimal integration
Unsure
When it comes to data and analytics how mature is your organisation and marketing & digital teams across the following areas?
*
Rows
Nascent
Emerging
Developing
Advanced
Leading
N/A / Unsure
Activating data to deliver great customer experiences and deliver personalisation
Clear and intentional data segmentation that goes beyond basic RFM and is used to power marketing, digital and experience decisions
A single, unified view of customer data that brings together data from an array of sources
Translate data into actionable insights that inform marketing, digital and experience decisions.
Identity resolution to match and link customer records into a single identity
Privacy and consent management that meets evolving regulation and customer expectations
How much do you agree with the following statements?
*
Rows
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
N/A / Unsure
We are facing increased pressure to demonstrate return and value from our MarTech
We are facing increased pressure to cut our MarTech spend
We have found it difficult to quantify the value of our MarTech investment to date
How confident are you that your data and marTech foundations are ready to support AI-driven use cases (e.g. personalisation, predictive analytics, agentic experiences)?
*
Very confident
Somewhat confident
Not very confident
Not confident at all
Unsure
Does your role encompass eCommerce?
*
Yes
No
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eCommerce & digital commerce
What are your top priorities when it comes to eCommerce and digital shelf management over the next 12 months? (Select up to 5)
*
Channel expansion (e.g marketplaces, quick commerce platforms, social commerce)
Market expansion (new territories or regions)
Improving fulfilment and delivery proposition
Product portfolio evolution or expansion to better meet customer needs
Marketplace strategy (development or growth of owned marketplace)
Improving the end-to-end eCommerce customer experience
Improving integration between physical stores and digital channels
Optimising supply chain and logistics to improve experience and efficiency
Improving eCommerce profitability
Optimising onsite experience and conversion
Improving product content quality and consistency
Leveraging AI to improve search, discovery and onsite navigation
Investing in mobile app experiences to drive sales and support in-store journeys
Sustainability and ethical sourcing (products and packaging)
Re-commerce initiatives (e.g. resale, refurbishment, circular models)
Unsure
Other (please specify)
How many platforms and channels do you leverage as part of your eCommerce strategy? (a platform | channel could be your own site, Amazon, UberEats, Instagram Shops etc
*
Please Select
None
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
>10
Which of the following channels make up part of your eCommerce strategy? (Select all that apply - this question seeks to understand which platforms you are actively selling via as opposed to using solely for promotional purposes).
*
Your eCommerce site / DTC site
Social commerce
Own marketplace (within your site or as a standalone site)
Conversational commerce (e.g: messenger apps/ chatbot selling)
Quick commerce platforms (e.g Uber, Doordash etc)
In-store kiosks
Voice commerce
Unsure
Other (please specify)
Where do you plan to focus energy and invest at a channel level over the next 12 - 18 months?
*
Rows
Decrease investment & focus
Start to trial / leverage
Maintain investment & focus
Increase investment & focus
Unsure
N/A
Our eCommerce channel (site)
Social commerce
Marketplaces & Aggregators
Conversational commerce
Quick commerce
Voice commerce
What portion of revenue does eCommerce make up of your overall business?
*
Less than 10%
10-20%
21-30%
31%-40%
41%-50%
51%+
We are a pure-play eCommerce business, so it's all of our revenue
Unsure
On a scale of 1 - 5, how would you rate your organisation's maturity in the eCommerce space, vs global leaders?
*
1 = very low, we have a lot of work to do
1
2
3
4
5 =very high, we are on par with global leaders
5
1 is 1 = very low, we have a lot of work to do , 5 is 5 =very high, we are on par with global leaders
How much do you agree with the following statements?
*
Rows
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly agree
N/A
eCommerce metrics are fully aligned with the achievement of business outcomes
Executive KPIs are aligned to achieving eCommerce & omni-channel outcomes
Our business understands the value and importance of delivering an omni-channel experience
Our business understands the value and importance of effective management and continuous optimisation of product (or services) based content to deliver eCommerce outcomes
eCommerce is seen or perceived as an integral part of our business
What level of growth have you seen in eCommerce over the past 12 months?
*
Negative growth
< 10%
10-19%
20-29%
30%-49%
> 50%
Unsure
When it comes to product content (copy, information, images, video, reviews etc.) how would you rate your organisation's capabilities across the following dimensions?
*
Rows
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
Unsure
N/A
Our product content & images are of a consistently high quality across our full range of products across all digital channels
Our teams find managing, creating and distributing product content a relatively fast & painless process
Our online product content is consistent with our organisations branding guidelines and delivers a consistent customer experience across all touch points
Our organisation has the right product content to support our omni-channel eCommerce strategy across emerging markets & channels
Our suppliers understand the importance of high-quality content and are actively investing in improving their content (if applicable)
We are effectively leveraging AI to optimise our digital content creation processes
We have clear ownership of product content within our organisation
What are the biggest barriers to growth in eCommerce within your organisation? (Select up to 3)
*
The level of investment is prohibiting growth of our eCommerce revenues
The whole business is not behind our eCommerce endeavours and direction
We struggle to deliver profitability through eCommerce
Our ability to move with the market - we are too slow to adapt/evolve
The technology we are utilising limits flexibility and agility
We are not resourced appropriately to realise the true potential of eCommerce
We can't find/retain the talent needed to be able to deliver on our strategy
Supply chain is not effectively supporting our ability to maximise eComm revenues and growth
Managing the size and scale of product content for all of our products and / or services to effectively drive eCommerce and digital shelf outcomes
N/A
Other
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Has your organisation got a retail media proposition in place?
*
Yes
No
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Retail Media
What stage of maturity is your retail media network?
*
Early stages (less than 12 months in market)
Emerging (12 - 24 months, adoption is growing and foundation capability is building)
Established (24 months+ in market, the offering is expanding and beginning to mature)
Advanced (well-established with scaled demand, advanced targeting, measurement and optimisation capabilities)
We do not currently have a retail media network (if no network, click this answer and skip to next page)
Unsure
Where is your retail media network most developed? (Select up to 3)
On-site and in-app media placements
Off-site media activation (e.g. social, display, video)
Instore media activation (e.g. digital screens, POS etc)
Audience and targeting capability
Measurement, reporting and attribution
Sales enablement and advertiser servicing
Data and technology infrastructure
We are still building foundational capabilities
Unsure
Other
Where is your retail media network least developed? (Select up to 3)
On-site and in-app media placements
Off-site media activation (e.g. social, display, video)
Instore media activation (e.g. digital screens, POS etc)
Audience and targeting capability
Measurement, reporting and attribution
Sales enablement and advertiser servicing
Data and technology infrastructure
We are still building foundational capabilities
Unsure
Other
What are the biggest constraints limiting the growth of your retail media network? (Select up to 3)
Advertiser education and demand
Technology or platform limitations
Measurement, attribution or reporting gaps
Internal capability or resourcing
Balancing customer experience with monetisation
Organisational investment
Other (please specify)
Whilst many departments play a role in delivering retail media, which function is leading the strategy and network roll out within your organisation?
Central Marketing
Category Marketing
Merchandise / Commercial
Digital & eCommerce
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Talent & Skills
Over the past 12 months, many businesses and brands have downsized or rightsized their business. Where is your company within that cycle?
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We haven't downsized or right sized our workforce and we don't plan to
We have completed our re-sizing and restructuring activities with no other planned changes
We are in the process of re-structuring or right sizing the business / teams
We have gone through an initial re-structure and right sizing exercise but there is more to come
Unsure
What were the key drivers behind these changes? (Select up to 3 reasons)
*
Cost reduction and margin protection
Positioning the business for future growth
Refocusing on core business priorities
Simplification of operating model and removal of complexity
Strategic shift or change in business direction
Technology or automation reducing the need for certain roles
Adoption of AI and digital tools reshaping capability requirements
N/A we haven't made any changes
Over the next 12 months, how do you expect your team structure to evolve? Select the option that best reflects your position.
*
Increase headcount, primarily permanent
Increase headcount, primarily contract or interim
Maintain current headcount but adjust skill mix
Reduce overall headcount
Restructure roles without changing total headcount
As AI accelerates, consumer behaviour shifts and cost pressure continues, where will you need stronger capability and resources over the next 24 months? (Select up to 5)
*
Commercial and revenue growth leadership, including pricing
eCommerce and digital trading
Retail media performance
AI, data and automation capability
Martech, CRM, first party data and customer lifecycle capability
Brand re-positioning & reinvention
Innovation and NPD
Customer and omni-channel experience and loyalty
Supply chain optimisation
M&A, integration or network expansion capability
Other (please specify below)
As your organisation navigates technological change, economic pressure and evolving workforce expectations, which leadership capabilities and behaviours will define modern leadership over the next two to three years? Leadership capabilities (Choose up to 3)
*
Strategic and commercial decision making
Capital allocation and investment prioritisation
Data literacy and AI fluency
Designing future operating models
Workforce and capability redesign
Performance management and talent development
Omni channel commercial leadership
Influencing at Board and executive level
Customer centric and insight led decision making
Driving operational excellence and disciplined execution
None of the above
Leadership behaviours and mindset (choose up to 3)
*
Leading through ambiguity and uncertainty
Making timely, confident decisions under pressure
Creating psychologically safe environments
Emotional intelligence and empathy
Clear, honest and transparent communication
Role modelling accountability and ownership
Adaptability and flexibility in dynamic environments
Constructively challenging the status quo
None of the above
Do you have a strong internal succession pipeline for your most critical roles?
*
Yes, we have ready now successors for most key roles
Somewhat, we have emerging talent but gaps remain
No, we would need to hire externally for most critical roles
Unsure
When partnering with an external recruitment or executive search agency, what factors are most important to you in both permanent and for a contracting assignment? Please select up to 3 each for permanent recruitment & contract recruitment.
*
Rows
Permanent
Contract
Use of technology and AI to enhance search quality and speed
Proven track record and deep sector expertise
Stability and continuity of the consulting team
Deep functional specialisation and network depth
Established relationships and access to high calibre passive talent
Depth of market mapping and research capability
Market insight including salary, competitor and talent movement
Quality of shortlist, not just volume of CVs
Speed to market
Transparent communication and process management
Cultural alignment and brand representation
Strategic advisory capability, not just recruitment
Reputation in market / word of mouth referrals
Fee structure and overall cost
Flexibility in commercial model
Diversity and inclusion outcomes
None of the above
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